Sunday, February 13, 2011

Today's sewing project

For a while now I have struggled with a good location for this SPOT device. I used to keep it on my stem but now I have my GPS unit there. I can't stand for my h-bar area to be non-symmetrical so it can't go up there. My OCD is BAD. I can't even put a heart rate monitor up there because things will be all lopsided. Last year I sewed a pocket to the front of my h-bar bag but got mediocre transmissions out of the unit since it wasn't facing towards the sky. This year I was going to sew a strap to my shoulder pad and mount it there but I just wasn't happy with that solution either. I usually keep my knife on my shoulder strap and I don't want much more there or else I'm afraid it will start to get uncomfortable. I kind of have a fear of not being able to see the SPOT since it costs so much and this is my second unit. This morning I decided to take the pocket off the h-bar bag and see about sewing it to the top of the seat bag right behind the saddle. I tacked it on to the bag (yes I actually know some sewing language but I am ALL MAN) and was pretty happy with it so I decided to run with it. It takes a while to hand baste this on and I used some really nice upholstery thread I scored at my favorite sewing supply store. Here's the finished product.

I'm real happy with how it came out. I should be able to do a reach around (get your mind out of the gutter) and make sure it's still there. I also just transmitted an OK message and it went threw wonderfully and fast. Hopefully this will allow everyone to see me slogging along without any major issues this year as things have been so hit and miss with it. I guess if I lose it...I would have lost it no matter how it was secured. The fabric itself isn't really all that strong but I doubled it up and made it pretty tight. Another bonus is that it was so nice outside today that I got to sew on the deck. I even got a little sunburn on my bald head. I really wanted to go ride but everything is a sloppy mess right now.